“We’re lining up all the equipment on the sea floor. When it’s all staged, we have to connect all the materials together and make sure everything is tested. It’s not a fast process,” said BP spokesperson John Curry.

The plan to stop the leak with cement-like drilling fluid is basically BP’s last quick fix. If it fails, BP will return to a variation on Operation Top Hat.

The company will keep trying new plans to siphon or stop the leak until August, when relief wells will reduce the flow. “No step that we take will make things worse,” Curry said.